Passenger vehicles conventionally include an air intake vent located on the cowl between the front windshield and the rear end of the engine compartment hood. Such cowl vents normally include exposed openings through which air enters prior to passage into the passenger compartment to provide ventilation.
Armored vehicles are conventionally made from metal armor plate so as to be capable of stopping projectiles such as bullets or shrapnel. Air intake openings on armored vehicles conventionally utilize louvers or the like to define relatively small openings that are not big enough to allow a projectile of the normal size to pass into the vehicle. The cross-sectional area of air flow is thus smaller for any given size of such a vent as a result of the louvers located between the openings. Also, many armored vehicles are utilized for both on-road and off-road purposes and the air that is taken in by an intake vent on the cowl opening thereof thus quite often carries dust.